DRC/RWANDA: FRANCE SUPPORTS USG APPROACH ON UNSC

C O N F I D E N T I A L PARIS 000057 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/15/2019 TAGS: EFIN ETTC KTFN PREL PTER ZF UNSC FR SUBJECT: DRC/RWANDA: FRANCE SUPPORTS USG APPROACH ON UNSC SANCTIONS REF: STATE 3354 Classified By: Political Counselor Andrew Young, 1.4 (b/d). (C) We conveyed on January 14 reftel demarche concerning the addition of four names to the UNSC DRC Sanctions Committee list to, separately, MFA desk officers Laurent Chevallier (AF) and Jeanne Simon (IO). Simon expressed no objection to the approach outlined in reftel. Chevallier, while saying that his office would support the U.S. position, noted potential problems that could emerge on the Rwandan side. He said that the Rwandans might not be pleased that their original list of 19 names, submitted some months ago in May 2008, had been reduced to four. He was concerned that the Rwandans might not be comfortable with presenting the enhanced Statements of Case to the DRC Sanctions Committee because doing so might give the impression that Rwanda itself was no longer interested in pursuing all of the others Rwanda had originally named and that Rwanda would in effect be doing what the U.S., France, UK, et al., were telling it to do. Chevallier said that France, given its own problems with Rwanda, was acutely aware of Rwandan sensitivities about being pushed around by outsiders, and that Rwandan officials might object to how their original list of names had been treated. Having pointed out these potential problems, however, Chevallier said that France would support the U.S. approach but with fingers crossed out of concern for this possible adverse Rwandan reaction. STAPLETON